Coach Sawyers on the hunt for knowledge
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BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
He doesn't want to talk about his career goals. In fact, he prefers not to discuss himself at all. Not now, with Nebraska a three-game series triumph from reaching the College World Series.
Oh, but third-year Husker assistant Andy Sawyers will talk all day long about hunting and trapping. Especially trapping. He traps beaver, raccoon and bobcats.
Bobcats, because of their secretive nature, are particularly challenging, Sawyers says. He regards it as an intellectual pursuit. He reads about bobcats' habits and picks game wardens' brains about the subject.
"Andy is extremely intelligent," Nebraska head coach Mike Anderson says. "The second you think, ‘These are the three things we need to do to improve this young man,' Andy will come up with three completely new ideas, just because he's a different kind of thinker. He brings a different side to the game."
Sawyers, a native of northern California, is a voracious reader. He currently is reading about how to train hunting dogs, about the importance of non-verbal communication in creating behaviors in dogs, he says. Some of the methods apply to communicating and creating behavior among hitters.
The 30-year-old Sawyers prefers to talk about hitters and bobcats and hunting dogs — anything but himself. This week's not about him, he says, it's about the players, about the team. The thing is, in talking about the team — specifically about Anderson and pitching coach Rob Childress — Sawyers reveals much about himself.
Anderson and Childress are his primary coaching influences, says Sawyers, who coaches first base and works mostly with catchers while also helping Anderson tutor hitters. Sawyers has altered his coaching approach during the last three years after serving as head coach at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College from 2000-2002.
Sawyers says he was "tough to play for" at Hutchinson. At that point in his career, he says, winning was more important than any relationships he might form with players or any lasting impact he might have on them.
"I was kind of ruthless," he says.
Sawyers recalls the time his Hutchinson team struck out 17 times in a doubleheader. When the doubleheader ended at 9 p.m., Sawyers made his team run 17 "triangles" — from home plate, to one foul pole, to the other, and back to home plate. Seventeen times.
"We had kids puking and falling out with cramps," he says. "But I'll tell you what, we didn't strike out for like a month after that. But do you have to be that crazy? Probably not. There's probably a more effective way to get your point across ... I was a little bit too over-the-top."
Anderson, by contrast, is mindful of the "big picture," Sawyers says. The Nebraska head coach puts a premium on having a positive impact on players' lives, Sawyers says.
"I think Mike does a good job of getting results and being demanding of the kids, but they also know he cares about them," Sawyers says. "I look back and remember some of the guys who played for me ... When they were done with me, they were done with me."
However, Sawyers says, with age comes perspective. He says he's become more concerned about the players as people.
Says Anderson, "All year long, I've talked about building confidence with these kids. That's what Andy does. Kids are going to know if you care about them based on how you work them, and he does a great job."
Childress, meanwhile, made an impression on Sawyers with his competitiveness.
Childress' competitive nature manifests itself not only on game day, Sawyers says, but in detailed scouting reports, in how he runs the pitchers' bullpen workouts and in recruiting. Childress refuses to be out-worked, Sawyers says.
Sawyers served a stint as a volunteer assistant at Nebraska right before taking over at Hutchinson. He followed Childress on recruiting trips and asked a million questions.
A native of Willits, Calif. — due north of San Francisco — Sawyers was among the many Californians who came to Nebraska to play for John Sanders. Sawyers played catcher in 1997 during Sanders' final season and in 1998 for Dave Van Horn, who coached at NU for five seasons before taking over at Arkansas.
"I couldn't hit," Sawyers says, "but I think I was an OK catcher."
As the Huskers' catcher, Sawyers took signals from Childress and retains a strong grasp of Childress' thought processes.
Sawyers revels in the thinking side of baseball. For instance, he still feels an innate need to know what pitch Childress is calling (Childress signals to the catcher, and the catcher signals to the pitcher). Sawyers delights in the pitcher-hitter chess match.
Sawyers' career goals? OK, he lets down his guard, if only momentarily, and lets loose with one of them.
"Making the College World Series," he says flatly.
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